Monday, September 28, 2015

As the Garden of Eat’n CSA 2015 season comes to an end we would like to thank you all for being a part ofour bountiful harvest this year. We all hope you enjoyed the vegetables and look forward to seeing you all next year. We enjoyed being in the new CSA shed with more space and look forward to improving morenext year.

Our last pick up week for the season will be the week of October 5-10, 2015.

Monday’s last pick up day is on October 5th.

Wednesday’s last pick up day is on October 7th.

Friday’s last pick up day is on October 9th.

Saturday’s last pick up day is on October 10th.

We will be having a Thanksgiving pick up for all of our members from November 20-26, 2015. You are welcome to come on any of those days and any time of day. Your Thanksgiving produce shares will be in bags so we ask that you return both your bins by November 26 to avoid charges. If possible please return both bins before then so we can clean and properly prepare them for storage before the cold weather. There is a sign upsheet by white bored if you would like us to either email, call or text you to remind you when it gets closer for Thanksgiving pick up. We hope that you all have a healthy and happy holiday season. We hope to see you all next year.

Serves 2-4 as a side dish

Clean the delicata squash by running under warm water and scrubbing away dirt with your hands. If there are any hard spots on the squash, you can scrape them off with a butter knife.

With a sharp knife, cut delicata in half lengthwise. This should be easy and not require any crazy hacking. With a spoon scoop out the seeds and discard (you can save these and prepare them like pumpkin seeds if you wish). Cut each delicata half into 1/2 inch segments, creating moon-shaped pieces that have slight bumps around the curve.

Arrange the pieces in a single layer in a metal baking pan and coat in 2 tbsp olive oil. Too much oil can make the squash soggy. Salt gently. It’s okay if the pieces are a little crowded, but try to maximize the surface area of the squash touching the pan. The browning only occurs where the squash and pan meet.

Place in oven and roast 10 minutes. Using a spatula (I use tongs for most veggies, but delicata squash are easily squished and hold up better if you don’t pinch them) turn the squash in the pan so that the light sides are now touching the pan and the brown sides are facing upward.

Continue roasting, turning every 7-10 minutes until both sides of the squash pieces are golden brown and the texture is creamy to the teeth all the way through, about 25-30 minutes. Adjust salt.

1 Preheat your oven to 400°F (205°C).

2 Using a sharp, sturdy chef's knife, carefully cut the acorn squash in half, from stem to tip. (A rubber mallet can help if you have one.) The squash can rock back and forth, so take care as you are cutting it.

Use a sturdy metal spoon to scrape out the seeds and stringy bits inside each squash half, until the inside is smooth.

Take a sharp paring knife and score the insides of the acorn squash halves in a cross-hatch pattern, about a half-inch deep cuts.

Place the squash halves cut side up in a roasting pan. Pour 1/4-inch of water over the bottom of the pan so that the squash doesn't burn or get dried out in the oven.

3 Rub a half teaspoon of butter into the insides of each half. Sprinkle with a little salt if you are using unsalted butter. Crumble a tablespoon of brown sugar into the center of each half and drizzle with a teaspoon of maple syrup.

4 Bake for about an hour to an hour 15 minutes, until the tops of the squash halves are nicely browned, and the squash flesh is very soft and cooked through. It's hard to overcook squash, it just gets better with more caramelization. But don't undercook it.

When done, remove them from the oven and let them cool for a bit before serving. Spoon any buttery sugar sauce that has not already been absorbed by the squash over the top.